I wrote the following today in response to Miss Sarah’s post over at Girls on Bicycles. Sarah was writing about how people feel sorry for her when they find out she rides the bus around town, and how her mum frets about her riding a bike hither and yon. Miss Sarah has some interesting observations, and to those, I added my own. It seemed appropriately timed, as the road conditions today were too dangerous for cycling in to work so I took the bus instead. What follows was my response to Sarah’s post.

I *like* riding public transit! On my bus ride home today I watched a sleepy little girl nodding off in her father’s lap while he whispered sweetnesses into her ear — these made her smile sleepily, and it was a very dear thing to see. I like to say hello to the bus drivers, and I like to be picked up and dropped off only steps from where I need to be.

I feel sorry for all the cranky people in their little motorized living-rooms.

I also firmly believe that we make nothing that is wrong with our urban planning any better by encouraging every last one of our teenagers to get a license as soon as possible. And with the rate of teen death by motor vehicle accident (2nd only to suicide), I think there’s an argument to be made that giving a teenager a car is an act of hostility, not love.

We have a car, yes. It spends most of its days parked in the driveway. It gets used about once a week, even in winter. It is indispensable for getting to our little shack in the woods (over 300 km away), and for our once-a-month visits to the St. Lawrence market in Toronto, but we use it so infrequently that we are considering moving to a rent-as-needed arrangement.

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We have bike racks in K-W as well; and my Trek fits on them just fine. The Blue Beauty, however, is too large for the wheel-locking device. I really, really miss living in Toronto! I used to live on a combination of subway-bike-streetcar-bus routes. I could do anything, at any time of day, and do it easily all year ’round.

I couldn’t be more on board with your comment about people and their living rooms on wheels! I can’t believe kids can’t even be expected to sit still for 15 mins without having to watch their DVDs in the back seat.

It’s so frustrating here because people insist on driving (despite the economy and environment). They claim the bus service is awful. But, busses don’t get better if people aren’t riding them. Also, busses can’t be efficient when people insist on buying houses on the edge of town, committing themselves to 1.5-2 hours of driving to and from work every day. How that can be appealing to somebody, I have no idea.